After arriving in Sydney in 1983,they set about rebuilding their lives,eventually buying a small shop tucked away in an underground arcade near Wynyard station in the CBD for $925,000 in 2001.
Thi Mai and Cao Thuong Tran’s shop near Wynyard station was compulsorily acquired for the Metro West rail project more than a year ago.Flavio Brancaleone
Yet more than two decades later,the couple are locked in a two-year battle with Sydney Metro over the compulsory acquisition of their shop for a beneath Hunter Street.
“I feel very upset. We try to invest in this shop for our retirement. I’m nearly 69,but I have to keep going,” Cao said in broken English. He worked as a milkman for 35 years,and now is a handyman on social housing sites.
Their circumstances echo those of other small Sydney property owners who have suddenly found their homes,shops or businesses were to be acquired and bulldozed over the past decade for major motorway and public transport projects such as the toll road or.
Sydney Metro initially offered the Trans $1.165 million for the shop in the Hunter Connection arcade two years ago,which they rejected because it was only $240,000 more than they had paid for it 20 years earlier.
The couple later hired a valuer who estimated the 89-square-metre shop,which they leased out,was worth $3.625 million.
Their son Minh said his parents felt as though they were being bullied into relinquishing their shop for a “very unreasonable” price,especially since large developers stood to benefit substantially from.
“It’s another David and Goliath battle. My Mum has been stressed − she is always tearing up,” he said. “There’s just been a lack of good faith. They worked hard to buy this. They were boat people who came over here for a better life.”
Sydney Metro moved to compulsorily acquire the shop in September 2022,and,months later,the NSW valuer-general determined it was worth $2.2 million.
Two skyscrapers,in red,planned to be built above the Metro West train station will be up to 58 storeys high.City of Sydney
After further unsuccessful negotiations,the couple decided to fight the acquisition in the NSW Land and Environment Court because they did not accept the valuer-general’s estimate.
Shortly before a conciliation hearing in June,Sydney Metro made another offer to the Trans,which they again rejected because they say it was significantly less than the valuer-general’s determination.
They cannot reveal the government agency’s latest offer because the matter now is in the conciliation process and is set to proceed to a hearing in six months.
Sydney Metro said in a statement that it was inappropriate to comment on matters that were the subject of court proceedings.
One of the skyscrapers to be built above the station is planned for the corner of Hunter and George streets.Dion Georgopoulos
“We recognise property acquisition is a difficult process,and we understand the emotional impact this can have on property owners,” it said.
“Our priority is to arrive at an outcome that supports owners while also protecting the interests of NSW taxpayers by ensuring compensation is assessed in accordance with the Just Terms Act. We have at all times negotiated in good faith.”
Sydney Metro has spent more than $2 billion acquiring more than 500 properties in the past three years for the and other new driverless train lines in the city.
According to the NSW auditor-general,the agency had contingent liabilities of $1.3 billion at the end of last June due to compulsory property acquisitions under legal dispute where claims differ from the valuer-general’s determined compensation amounts.
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